Derek DeVries

I'm Derek DeVries; the DM says make a saving throw vs. my charisma.

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I'm a life-long geek with two decades of immersion in digital communications dating to the heyday of Usenet and coding kludgy HTML sites to now managing marketing automation for programmatic ad campaigns and driving outcomes through social media strategies. My experience includes over a decade in higher education marketing and time at multiple agencies delivering outcomes for clients a diverse array of industries. If you're into academic credentials, I earned a master's degree for funsies.

Adjunct Faculty at Grand Valley State University

January 2006 - January 2008

Taught COM 320 (Vision and Culture) and CAP 220 (Fundamentals of Public Relations).

Staff Assistant at Seyferth and Associates, Inc.

September 2000 - September 2001

Worked on accounts including Roskam Bakery/Starr Puffs Bakery, BISSELL, Inc., McDonald’s, Universal Forest Products, North Ottawa Community Health System (NOCHS), The Detroit Medical Center, the Great Lakes Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, Grand Valley State University, Manatron, Grand Rapids Community College, and the West Michigan Strategic Alliance.

Intern at J.W. Messner Inc.

January 1999 - September 2000

Contracted to revamp the customer service operations for the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County governments. Staffed customer service desk, built knowledge management system, created collateral material, collected data and compiled reports.

Social Media Consultant at Derek DeVries Consulting

2010

Social Media / Online Reputation Management (ORM) speaking, training, project management, strategic planning and consulting services.

Adjunct Faculty at Grand Rapids Community College

January 2007

Taught COM 131 - Fundamentals of Public Speaking and COM 135 - Interpersonal Communication.

Communications Technology Manager at Grand Rapids Community College

September 2001

• Crisis Communications (member of Emergency Management Team for crises including inclement weather closings, bomb threats, campus evacuations, helicopter crash, protests, etc.) • Instrumental in making GRCC the first college in Michigan to offer crisis text messaging to students/employees. • Environmental scanning (collected articles of interest on a daily basis for college leadership). • Call Center: Oversaw main switchboard operations for GRCC, supervising two full-time employees and four student employees. Call volume avg. 160,000 calls per year. Developed comprehensive analytics system for phone traffic. • Raider Mascot Program: Developed from visual concept to suit (including trademarking logo). Scheduled/managed appearances by Raider mascot performers. • Social Media: Initiated/managed all of GRCC's efforts in social media. Initiated and developed social media training for employees. Drafted social media policy. Managed multiple ongoing social media marketing campaigns. • Initiated/managed all GRCC online reputation management efforts. • 2010 Armen Award for Innovation Recipient. • Led teams through multiple redesigns of the website. • Brand identity management and consulting. • Media relations. • Event planning. • Copywriting, graphic design, photography and creative services. • Primary Communications Dept. liaison with IT Dept., consulting on technology issues. • Served on cross-functional teams including: Risk Management, Supplier Diversity, Web Site Portal, Complaint Process Management, Catalog Committee.

Grand Valley State University

2003 – 2005

Masters of Science

Grand Valley State University

1998 – 2000

Bachelors of Science

Concentration: Communications

Lansing Community College

1996 – 1998

N/A

Concentration: Transfer

Digital Marketing, The Long Tail, Perpetual Beta, Blogging, SEO, SEM, Online Community Management, Reputation Management, Digital Crisis Communications